TomT

47 Articles

TomT will be posting under his real name here (at least part of it), in spite of the fact that this site already seems to be crammed-full of Toms. He is a suburban husband and dad doing Union work within public education in the Chicago area. Once in a great while he also posts diaries under the name “Skitters” on Daily Kos, and—during football season—he does his best to chronicle the dark history of a fairly-vicious fantasy league.

TomT
2 Min Read

Displaced Aggression League Report — Week 1

Greetings Team Owners, and many apologies for the delayed report in this, our opening week.  Blame the bull skunk that left your League Manager blinded by unholy stink, as collateral damage in its 3am showdown with the League Dog.  It was a horrifying turn of events that necessitated a hasty evacuation of the Command Bunker until the situation could be contained.  But scientists tell us that, just like the start our football season, the sudden influx of these toxic rodents in urban areas is a sure sign that Fall is here and Summer is a distant memory.

Indeed, it’s hard to believe that, just a few weeks ago, many of us were still in family vacation mode: With personality conflicts sharpened by rolling blackouts and a maddening heat index, and in-laws forced to take shelter on shady porches in resentful groups.  We draped ourselves over sticky wicker furniture and struggled to suck oxygen out of the steamy air, while the relentless screaming of cicadas was punctuated by the thumping of fat black flies the size of sparrows, trying to force their way through the screens to drink our blood.  It was too hot to do anything – too hot, thankfully, for any of us to act on the paranoid and murderous impulses that skittered around our brains every time we glanced at each other.

TomT
1 Min Read

WASHINGTON – At a press conference on Tuesday, President Barack Obama dismissed public concerns over the long-term impact of damage to Japan’s Fukishima reactor as well as the safety of U.S. nuclear facilities, declaring that “nukulur power will remain on the table.” Following the President’s…

TomT
6 Min Read

It says something about a fighter’s character when his immediate reaction to being handed his first defeat in 27 professional bouts is to say that he’s thankful that no one was injured.   Those were the first words out of the mouth of a still-stunned Andre Berto, upon hearing the judges unanimously award his WBC Welterweight title to the younger phenom, Victor Ortiz.    While words like class, grace, and dignity start springing to mind when you hear something like that, Berto’s other post-fight comments quickly brought him back down to earth; he rationalized the loss by claiming that he “felt off,” and said “that wasn’t me in there.”

TomT
6 Min Read

We’ve all heard that the struggle in Wisconsin continues – now with a challenged judicial restraining order, and efforts to recall Republican legislators underway all over the state.   For what it’s worth, I had intended to continue posting small Wisconsin roundups but was repeatedly overtaken by events – and by events, I mostly mean the assault on what’s left of the American labor movement that has now spread to many other states, including Illinois.

TomT
4 Min Read

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All eyes are now firmly fixed on the Wisconsin Senate after Republicans in the General Assembly used a parliamentary maneuver early this morning to cut off debate and push through a vote on the Governor’s union-busting bill.



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It’s official: The Wisconsin State Police have been sent to round up the 14 State Senators who went on the lam to prevent State Senate Republicans from having a quorum with which to rush through the anti-union bill.

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TomT
3 Min Read

Is Governor Scott Walker really a Koch whore?
On the heels of his admission that he actually considered dispatching operatives to infiltrate and disrupt the protests against his union-busting budget bill (this was in the prank phone call from a journalist whom Walker believed to be one of the Koch brothers), the real Kochs have leapt to his aid with a new TV ad-buy, an astro-turf support group, and a new right-wing lobbying HQ across the street from Wisconsin’s Capitol building.

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